Home > MSNBC Gushes Over Jessica Alba: 'Our Children Are the Experiments' of 'Unregulated' Chemical Companies

MSNBC Gushes Over Jessica Alba: 'Our Children Are the Experiments' of 'Unregulated' Chemical Companies

By

Alex Fitzsimmons

May 26, 2011 - 10:48am

Jessica Alba received an overwhelmingly positive reception on Thursday's Morning
Joe while lobbying for legislation that would give the EPA
broad-sweeping powers to regulate chemicals in consumer products.

Despite her cheerful demeanor, the Hollywood starlet made a spate of
damning claims against the chemical industry that she failed to
substantiate, while the MSNBC panel nodded in approval.

"I realized that there are toxic chemicals in American products that
are completely unregulated that are in and around our children," accused
Alba, even though the Toxic Substances Control Act[1] of 1976 empowers the EPA with such statutory authority.

After Alba fretted that "our children are the experiments" of chemical
companies, co-host Willie Geist, rather than pressing the
actress-activist for evidence, merely agreed and compared America's
regulatory regime to that of communist China.

This would have been the appropriate time for Joe Scarborough to point
out to his viewers that not everyone is on board with the Safe Chemicals
Act of 2011, which Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced and Alba
endorsed.

Such dissenters[2]
include the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association
that supports efforts to modernize the TSCA, but maintains this
particular measure "could put American innovation and jobs at risk."

Criticism from the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association
also went unreported by the "Morning Joe" journalists. The trade group warned[3] that the Lautenberg bill "would give EPA unprecedented authority over the American economy."

WILLIE GEIST: Jessica, so tell us what you're doing up on Capitol Hill that has a lot to do with kids.

JESSICA ALBA, actress: Well, basically, when I was pregnant with my
first child, I realized that there are toxic chemicals in American
products that are completely unregulated that are in and around our
children. And my child, in particular, that's what I was most concerned
about. So, you know, I was looking for, you know, from the best mattress
to what kind of spray do I use for the counter tops because she's going
to be around that and shampoos and all the things that are in and
around my child. And I realized that in this country, companies can put
toxic chemicals in these products, in our everyday products, and put
them on store shelves, and they're never tested. So basically our
children are the experiments on whether they can get sick. And there are
a lot of diseases, cancer, learning disorders, physical disabilities
that are linked to these toxins, directly linked to these toxins that
are in these products. And so I'm here basically to reform this bill
that Frank Lautenberg put forth. It's the Safe Chemicals Act. Just to
try and raise the bar so these companies are more responsible about what
type of chemicals they put in our products.

GEIST: Yeah, I think a lot of people think of China. We had all those
problems with the products coming over from China that were a problem,
but a lot of the stuff is happening right here. How's it going out
there? What's the future of the Lautenberg bill?

ALBA: I mean, really, it's about reforming a bill, a toxic chemical
bill, that was put into place in 1976. It basically hasn't been revised
since then. There are, like, 84,000 toxins, toxic chemicals, in our
everyday products from surface spray to literally tearless baby shampoo
have petroleum-based products chemicals in them. And it affects the
health of our children. I mean, there's no - it's really not a surprise
that so many diseases and disorders are on the rise, especially for
children. And I do believe that a lot of it is environmentally caused.
And I'm not just some actress coming out saying this. I did a lot of
research. and there's a lot of science and medical experts that can back
that up.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: You know, Mike Barnicle, if you look at the explosion
of autism over the past 20 or 30 years, a lot of people believe that may
be connected with products that our children are coming into contact
with, environmental contact - because the numbers have exploded since
the late 1980s, Mike.

MIKE BARNICLE, MSNBC contributor: Not only that, Joe, and to that
point, Jessica, what, if anything, happened that made you aware of this,
the fact that, you know, a baby might throw up and you're cleaning up
the mattress or the floor and you're spraying stuff on there. You might
as well be putting gasoline on the mattress.

ALBA: I mean, basically, the mattresses are made of petroleum-based
products. There are a lot of links for SIDS, to that, which is crazy.
Our babies are basically breathing in toxic fumes, and they're
suffocating and that's just, it's just not acceptable. It's completely
unacceptable. And so I'm here to raise awareness. When I was pregnant
with my daughter, I was just more sensitive. And I wanted to create the
healthiest and safest environment for her. And when I read up on all
this stuff, it was just crazy. And in Europe, actually, they don't even
sell half of our products because their standards are much higher.

GEIST: Well, we're glad you're doing this work. We all have kids. Good
for you. It's called the Safe Chemicals Act. Jessica Alba out fighting
to get this pushed through. Thanks so much for being with us.

SCARBOROUGH: Fighting the good fight!

- Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here[4] to follow him on Twitter.

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